Quote:
Originally Posted by IndigoErth
(Post 1798107)
This kid again...? Any longer and it'll start seeming like he's suing to keep his 15 min of fame rolling.
|
To be completely fair, his family did say several weeks ago that they were likely to sue, as I recall, and these things don't happen overnight. So it's not their fault that it's just going through - and being reported on - right now. That's not something they're in control of.
It's also a pretty good thing, because the problem of "journalists" creating a story before getting all the Facts, and then immediately "explaining" to everyone how they're supposed to feel about it - and further, often refusing to amend their reports once those Facts are in, if they contradict what's already been said - isn't a new problem and it didn't start with this kid's story. It's not exclusive to either side of the political spectrum but it's firmly entrenched with the rise of the internet as a "news" source.
Newspapers have to cite sources and print apologies/retractions. That's the law. TV and internet "news" sources don't have the same restrictions, and in the age of the 24/7 News Cycle, it's become the standard operating procedure to give every rumor, whisper, and overheard bit of gossip its own headline and Op-Ed before anything's even been verified, and if they're wrong, they just shrug and go "Oh Well". They're not even required to say, "We Were Wrong." But they should be.
Just like the Smollet case, we have here a situation where it SEEMED like one thing happened, an entire narrative emerged based on what a few people SUPPOSED was the truth, and a lot of people got extremely entrenched in what their version of Right vs. Wrong was. And in the end, it turned out that the truth was altogether completely different than what had been presupposed. But the damage was already done by then.
It really can't be this way. People need to be held accountable.
What we now simply shrug and unquestioningly accept as "The News" actually has an altogether different name, and has for over 150 years:
yel·low jour·nal·ism
noun
Journalism that is based upon sensationalism and crude exaggeration.
(Google definition)
https://history.state.gov/milestones...low-journalism
"Yellow journalism was a style of newspaper reporting that emphasized sensationalism over facts..."
It's absolutely the kind of thing people can, have, and should sue over, and it's also WHY newspapers have to cite sources and print retractions. Simply put, we used to have standards, and now, because of the internet, we don't.
It's not too late to start bringing accountability back. 15 minutes or 15 hours of fame, or infamy, it really doesn't matter so long as something good can come of it, that being a return of ethics in journalism and the end of clickbait, fear-mongering and flat-out lies.